Friday, March 18, 2011

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on March 17, 2011 6:15 PM

1. I read an advertisement in a Malaysian paper by a Malaysian Steel mill wanting to buy iron ore. I also know of another steel mill importing iron ore.

2. I think this is very strange. It is known that iron ore is being mined in Terengganu and Pahang right now. I understand that the iron ore is being exported. Without being processed in any order to add value.

3. Why cannot the people mining for iron ore in Malaysia sell the ore to Malaysian mills. The ore they have to buy comes from Australia or even Latin America. The price must be higher because of transportation cost. If Malaysian ore is sold to Malaysian mills, the profit would be higher for the miners as the transportation cost would be lower.

4. If the Malaysian mills are given mining concessions, the price would certainly be lower. It would enable Malaysian mills to compete with imports. If we must export , there should be some added value by conversion to pellets or billets or even construction steel. Malaysia would gain much by so doing.

5. I hope the government authorities concerned will look into this. There is something wrong when we chose to export the raw material needed for our own industry!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on March 10, 2011 9:30 AM

1. Someone asked what about the "Orang Asli" literally the "Original People". Weren't they in the peninsular before the Malays?

2. They could be. So are the Red Indians, the Maoris, the aborigines of Australia, the many tribal people in many countries of the world.

3. If we consider that the Orang Asli have more rights to claim Malaysia as their own then we should acknowledge and respect the rights of the Red Indians, the Maoris, the Australian aborigines and all the other aborigines to be given back the land we now call America, Australia, New Zealand etc.

4. Perhaps in recognition of their rights, they are now not so ill-treated and killed as they were when the Europeans seized their lands. But this is not the same as declaring that the countries belong to the people originally found there.

5. In Latin America there were native, indigenous or Orang Asli governments when the Europeans arrived. The Aztecs, the Mayas, the Incas had recognisable states. But the Spaniards and the Portuguese conquered their lands and set up new States and Governments. The world have recognised these states.

6. In Malaysia the Orang Asli are as much citizens of the country as are the people of other races. They had never set up their own states and governments.

7. When the Europeans came, the governments and the states they had to deal with were Malay. All treaties were made with the Malay Governments. Even the Japanese recognised the existence of these Malay States when they drove the British out of the peninsular.

8. Of course when the British came back, they had to gain the assent of the Malay rulers in order to set up the Malayan Union. All subsequent agreements were with Malay rulers and Malay political leaders.

9. It is important to note that the Malay rulers only recognised Malays as their natural "rakyat". They also recognised "Orang Asli" and non-Malays who had been assimilated as "rakyat". However, non-Malays who continued to identify themselves with their countries of origin were not regarded as rakyat.

10. It was only after the Malayan Union was formed that the concept of citizenship was created. Still those recognised as rakyat of the rulers were acknowledged through what came to be regarded as special positions.

11. This was enshrined in the constitution. But the constitution also made it clear that the non-Malay citizens also have special position. Thus they may retain their original identity, use their own home language (mother tongue?) and perpetuate their own culture. They also have the right to teach in their own languages in Government supported primary schools and can set up their own private secondary schools.

12. The setting up of schools which teach in their own languages is not to be confused with schools for teaching other languages.

13. We would like to see the end of all special privileges so that we can all be together. We should all be just Malaysians speaking and teaching in one national language, practitioners of one national culture, and owing loyalty only to this beloved country, Malaysia.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

1. Was I rewriting history when I said that Peninsular Malaysia is historically Semenanjung Tanah Melayu? If Mr Gan Ping Sieu (MCA Vice President) cares to read the history of this peninsular, he would know that officially the Malayan Union was replaced by Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. The English name "Federation of Malaya" was not official. I ought to know because I lived through this period.

2. But when the federation was enlarged to include Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, the Malays, led by the Tunku agreed to the name "Malaysia" for the enlarged federation. Historically therefore the Malays agreed to the renaming of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. But historically the peninsular was Tanah Melayu, made up of Malay States ruled by their rulers, the Malay Sultans. All agreements with the British were made by the Malay Sultans of the Malay States of the Peninsular. Malaya or Malaysia never entered into agreements with the British simply because they did not exist as sovereign states.

3. These are the facts of history. I was speaking about the origins of Malaysia. Can we say the origin of Malaysia was Malaysia. Historically there was no Malaysia.

4. I talked about this in response to certain people who claim that the Malays are as much immigrants as the Chinese and Indians.

5. Some Malays are obviously descended from people who came to the Malay Peninsular from the Indonesian islands, India and the Arabian Peninsular.

6. Having come here they were assimilated after they identified themselves completely with the Malays by adopting the Malay language, their customs and traditions and by being Muslims.

7. This is a common phenomenon. In America, Australia, Latin America, the later immigrants accepted the languages of their adopted country as their mother tongue as well as the culture.

8. After doing this they no longer think of themselves as being of their original country. They are Americans, Australians and Argentinians period. We don't hear them claiming to be German Americans, Portuguese Australians or Italian Argentinians, even though they or their ancestors came from these countries.

9. Malays are Malays and it is mischievous to suggest that when asked about their race they would say they are Bugis or Javanese. It is only if they are asked where their ancestors came from that they would say Celebes or Java. Otherwise they are just Malays.

10. If you ask me I would reply that I am a Malay. I would not say I am a Malay or Malaysian of ethnic Indian origin. My mother tongue and home language is Malay, my culture and tradition is Malay and I am a Muslim. The constitution defines a Malay as a person who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay custom and tradition and is a Muslim.

11. However I am told that IC cards in Singapore ignore Malays and state that the person is Bugis or Javanese. The intention is clear; to kill the Malay identity and create the impression that they are foreign immigrants.

12. Malays are caught in a dilemma. When challenged by the opposition on any racial issue, they are unable to respond because if they do then they would be accused of being racist even by members of the Barisan Nasional. When they do not reply then UMNO in particular would lose Malay support for not defending them. This will lead to UMNO being rejected by them. The Chinese have openly declared that they will not support Barisan Nasional. (read here)

13. Without Malay support and deprived of Chinese support UMNO would lose. Barisan Nasional would also lose.

14. Preventing Malays from defending themselves is not much different from supporting the opposition. When I rebut the anti-Malay racism of the opposition I am only trying to ensure that at least the Malays would support Barisan Nasional. I am no racist. Those who support racist statements by the opposition are the real racists.

15. For almost 52 years the Alliance and Barisan Nasional coalitions had worked well together. The prosperity that we enjoy during those years is the result of inter-racial cooperation through the Barisan Nasional.

16. In multiracial Malaysia no one can have everything that they consider they are entitled to - neither the Malays, nor the Chinese nor the Indians nor the different tribal groups in Sabah and Sarawak. The moment anyone demands that he be given everything that he thinks he is entitled to then there can be no inter-racial cooperation. Without inter-racial cooperation this country would go to the dogs.

17. We have read the fable of the thief who shouted "thief"! The racists are the same. They shout racist at others to distract from their own racism.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on February 28, 2011 10:30 AM

1. The people of Tunisia and Egypt have overthrown their Governments. A number of people have been killed in the process. More will follow before the uprisings will be over. Now comes the problem of setting up new Governments which would make the struggle and the sacrifices worthwhile. If the new Governments fail then all the struggles and sacrifices would have been in vain.

2. I am sure that the people would want to see a democratic Government, a Government of the people, by the people, for the people.

3. This sounds great but Government by the people will not be so easy. You cannot have the people directly governing themselves. You will need to have a new constitution and political parties which will enable representatives of the people to form the Government. For this, elections will have to be held. Unfortunately elections can be manipulated.

4. There will be a rush to grab for power by nationalists and by opportunists. It will not always be the good people who will win to form Governments. The idea of people choosing their leaders sounds very democratic but the people may not be savvy as to the quality of the candidates. Sectarian loyalties, money and narrow-mindedness may bring instability, economic regression and even anarchy.

5. The administrative machinery would need to be revamped and retrained as they would not be familiar with the democratic system. The police and military will have to understand professionalism i.e. that they will be the permanent part of the Government as against the elected Government which will last only as long as they manage to retain the support of the people.

6. The professional administrators, military and police must learn to be subservient to the elected Governments even when they are changed by the electorate through periodic elections. Their political affiliations will be private as they will have to serve whichever party forms the Government. It is going to be hard. The temptation to seize power will plague the minds of many.

7. Both the elected and permanent members of the Government will wield power to some degree. Power corrupts and will affect the performance of the Government. It is not necessary that the Government which replaces the old regime will be free from corruption. The people may have to try to remove the Government again and again with no certainty the replacements would be any better.

8. I pray and hope that the people who had suffered so much under the old regimes and suffered more in their present struggle will be rewarded with Governments that they had dreamed off.